Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

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Using HIV Medication to Reduce Risk

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) is when people at very high risk for HIV take HIV medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected. PrEP can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading throughout your body. It is highly effective for preventing HIV if used as prescribed, but it is much less effective when not taken consistently.

Daily PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90%. Among people who inject drugs, it reduces the risk by more than 70%. Your risk of getting HIV from sex can be even lower if you combine PrEP with condoms and other prevention methods.

What is PrEP?

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) is when people at very high risk for HIV take HIV medicines daily to lower their chances of getting infected. A combination of two HIV medicines (tenofovir and emtricitabine), sold under the name Truvada® (pronounced tru vá duh), is approved for daily use as PrEP to help prevent an HIV-negative person from getting HIV from a sexual or injection-drug-using partner who’s positive. FDA has approved Truvada® for PrEP for HIV-negative adults and adolescents weighing at least 35 kg (approximately 77 lbs.) Studies have shown that PrEP is highly effective for preventing HIV if it is used as prescribed. PrEP is much less effective when it is not taken consistently.

Why Take PrEP?

For those at very high risk for HIV, PrEP can significantly reduce your risk of HIV infection if taken daily. Daily PrEP use can lower the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90% and from injection drug use by more than 70%. You can combine additional strategies with PrEP to reduce your risk even further.

Should You Consider Taking PrEP?

PrEP is for HIV-negative adults and adolescents who are at very high risk for getting HIV from sex or injection drug use. The federal guidelines recommend that PrEP be considered for people who are HIV-negative and in an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-positive partner.

This recommendation also includes anyone who

isn’t in a mutually monogamous* relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative, and

is a . . .

gay or bisexual man who has had anal sex without using a condom or been diagnosed with an STD in the past 6 months, or

heterosexual man or woman who does not regularly use condoms during sex with partners of unknown HIV status who are at substantial risk of HIV infection (for example, people who inject drugs or women who have bisexual male partners).

PrEP is also recommended for people who have injected drugs in the past 6 months and have shared needles or works or been in drug treatment in the past 6 months.

If you have a partner who is HIV-positive and are considering getting pregnant, talk to your doctor about PrEP if you’re not already taking it. PrEP may be an option to help protect you and your baby from getting HIV infection while you try to get pregnant, during pregnancy, or while breastfeeding.

Because people who use PrEP must commit to taking the drug every day and seeing their health care provider every 3 months, it may not be right for everyone. And PrEP may cause side effects like nausea in some people, but these generally subside over time. These side effects aren’t life threatening. See Is PrEP safe?, below.

* Mutually monogamous means that you and your partner only have sex with each other and do not have sex outside the relationship.

How Well Does PrEP Work?

Studies have shown that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90% when used consistently. Among people who inject drugs, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by more than 70% when used consistently.

Is PrEP Safe?

PrEP can cause side effects like nausea in some people, but these generally subside over time. No serious side effects have been observed, and these side effects aren’t life threatening. If you are taking PrEP, tell your health care provider about any side effects that are severe or do not go away.

How Can You Start PrEP?

PrEP can be prescribed only by a health care provider, so talk to yours to find out if PrEP is the right HIV prevention strategy for you. If you need help locating a PrEP prescriber near you, use the PrEP locator at the bottom of this page, which features information on more than 1,800 public and private PrEP providers from all 50 states, as well as U.S. Territories. You must take PrEP daily for it to work. Also, you must take an HIV test before beginning PrEP to be sure you don’t already have HIV and every 3 months while you’re taking it, so you’ll have to visit your health care provider for regular follow-ups.

Many Federal agencies have developed public awareness and education campaigns to address HIV prevention, treatment, care, and research. In this section, you’ll find a snapshot of these Federal HIV campaigns and links to help you access more information as well as campaign materials that you can use. Also included is information about campaigns related to the prevention and diagnosis of hepatitis B and C.

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